Earlier in the day, the US media reported that the incident took place in central Brooklyn when the attacker approached the officers on the street and slashed one of them in the neck. Fighting then started, which included gunfire. One police officer was struck by a bullet, and another suffered a hand injury. After hearing the gunfire, other officers rushed to the scene. The attacker and the officers were hospitalized in serious condition.
"This is a moment in our history when we got to support each other no matter what else is happening around us, we got to be there for each other, officers protect us, we have to respect, support them, we got to find a way to move forward no matter how much is thrown at us, coronavirus and everything else, we have to find a way to come together and move forward. Tonight is a story of bravery, courage and the story ends with, I assume, that our officers will leave this hospital and go home to their families," de Blasio told reporters outside the hospital, broadcast by the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Twitter.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea then took the floor and provided preliminary information on the incident, saying that the two officers were assigned to an anti-looting post last night. At approximately a quarter to midnight, without warning, a man casually walked up to the officers, took out a knife and stab one of the officers in the back.
"What we know at this point in time is that 22 shell casings have been recovered from a number of members of the service, ...we had the perpetrator struck multiple times, he is here and he is in critical condition, we had two police officers shot in the hand, and we had the third police officer that is stabbed in the neck. All police officers at this point in time are in stable condition and are expected to recover," Shea said.
The incident is believed to have no link to the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.